Herd - the hidden truth about who we arehttp://herd.typepad.com/herd_the_hidden_truth_abo/
en-US2013-12-24T17:56:08+00:00

http://herd.typepad.com/herd_the_hidden_truth_abo/2013/12/be-wonderful-to-each-other-people.html
Be wonderful to each other, people.<p>Be wonderful to each other, people.<br/>
<br/>
<a class="asset-img-link" style="display: inline;" href="http://herd.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451e1dc69e201a3fb090f24970b-pi"> <img class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d83451e1dc69e201a3fb090f24970b image-full img-responsive" alt="Rudolf Herd-4 copy" title="Rudolf Herd-4 copy" src="http://herd.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451e1dc69e201a3fb090f24970b-800wi" border="0" /> </a><br /></p>Mark Earls2013-12-24T17:56:08+00:00Big Data, not Magic Data readers offerhttp://herd.typepad.com/herd_the_hidden_truth_abo/2013/08/big-data-not-magic-data-readers-offer.html
Been thinking a lot about the Big Data thing recently and a. how reminiscent it is of the CRM goldrush (follow the money, as the man said) and b. how dubious much of the thinking being trotted out - about...<p>
<a class="asset-img-link" href="http://herd.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451e1dc69e2019aff179e6c970d-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Numbers" border="0" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d83451e1dc69e2019aff179e6c970d image-full" src="http://herd.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451e1dc69e2019aff179e6c970d-800wi" title="Numbers" /></a></p>
<p>&#0160;</p>
<p>Been thinking a lot about the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_data" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Big data">Big Data</a> thing recently and a. how reminiscent it is of the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_relationship_management" rel="wikipedia" target="_blank" title="Customer relationship management">CRM</a> goldrush (follow the money, as the man said) and b. how dubious much of the thinking being trotted out - about people, organisations and measurement. <br /><br />And oh, little things about how advertising and marketing actually work - a clue, it&#39;s not like this...</p>
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<a class="asset-img-link" href="http://herd.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451e1dc69e2019aff177507970c-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="2311DA4A51970076112FFB" border="0" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d83451e1dc69e2019aff177507970c image-full" src="http://herd.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451e1dc69e2019aff177507970c-800wi" title="2311DA4A51970076112FFB" /></a><br /><br /></p>
<p>So here&#39;s a piece that Alex and I wrote for the upcoming issue of Admap - free download for a while!</p>
<p>Let me know what you think
<span class="asset asset-generic at-xid-6a00d83451e1dc69e2019aff177303970c"><a href="http://herd.typepad.com/files/big_data_not_magic_data.pdf">Download Big_Data_not_magic_data</a></span></p>
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</fieldset>advertisingBig DataFuture of AdvertisingI'll have what she's havingmarketingPatternsWeb/TechWhat kind of thing?Mark Earls2013-08-30T16:15:14+01:00Choosing wine: a people-thing or a thing-thing?http://herd.typepad.com/herd_the_hidden_truth_abo/2013/06/choosing-wine-a-people-thing-or-a-thing-thing.html
Pic c/o Fulldorm.com Interesting post over at the Guardian about some research suggesting wine experts are not the best folk to turn to to help you choose wine. Couple of things here: 1. It's not that surprising, given the difficulties...<p>
<a class="asset-img-link" href="http://herd.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451e1dc69e2019103c69adf970c-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Spilt-wine" border="0" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d83451e1dc69e2019103c69adf970c" src="http://herd.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451e1dc69e2019103c69adf970c-800wi" title="Spilt-wine" /></a><br />Pic c/o Fulldorm.com</p>
<p><br />Interesting<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2013/jun/23/wine-tasting-junk-science-analysis" target="_self"> <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2013/jun/24/should-we-listen-wine-critics" target="_self">post over at the Guardian</a></a> about some research suggesting wine experts are not the best folk to turn to to help you choose wine.</p>
<p>Couple of things here: </p>
<p>1. It&#39;s not that surprising, given the difficulties in choosing from large and often indistinguishable wine options that regular people often follow the recommendations of those they see as experts - outsourcing the cognitive load, we call it, to those we imagine know better. In other words, that choosing wine is often a people-thing rather than a thing-thing. We equally use heuristics like a. what I recognise b. what I see other people drinking (<a href="http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&amp;tid=12599" target="_self">I&#39;ll have what she&#39;s having)</a>, what&#39;s culturally appropriate (red wine with meat) or we might use price as an indicator (with all of the <a href="http://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/56240/1/59821738X.pdf" target="_self">framing effects</a> that Behavioural Economists love to talk about).</p>
<p>2. Nor is it surprising that the experts too find it difficult to choose, too. Or that they also defer to experts and expertise that they discern from others. The notion of expertise in any field tends to be much more culturally than empirically-based - i.e. it&#39;s a people not a thing-thing. There are lots of examples of <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/7959.html" target="_self">how bad expertise advice can be</a>; don&#39;t forget, <a href="http://socsci2.ucsd.edu/~aronatas/project/academic/tversky%20and%20kahneman%20judgment%20under%20uncertainty.pdf" target="_self">Tversky &amp; Kahnemann&#39;s early work on human inability to calculate probabliities was based on work comparing patients and medical professionals</a> (and the latter proved just as prone to the cognitive biases described as those who looked to them for advice). </p>
<p><br />What strikes me is how odd it seems to us that experts don&#39;t know and can&#39;t tell products apart. And how disappointed or wronged we feel at the news that they don&#39;t know. We make sense of our use of c<a href="http://herd.typepad.com/herd_the_hidden_truth_abo/2013/03/10-years-of-herd-insights.html" target="_self">opying experts </a>in terms of some supposed expertise about the thingness of our choices and this seems to be undermined by experts&#39; failure to deliver. (<a href="http://blackbeardblog.tumblr.com/" target="_self">Tom Ewing&#39;s</a> musings on how the role of chance in popular music are always worth a listen...</p>
<p>
<a class="asset-img-link" href="http://herd.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451e1dc69e20192ab8f5776970d-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Tomewing tweet copy" border="0" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d83451e1dc69e20192ab8f5776970d image-full" src="http://herd.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451e1dc69e20192ab8f5776970d-800wi" title="Tomewing tweet copy" /></a><br /><br /></p>
<p><br />All of which serves to remind us that many more things than our default assumption that choosing is primarily done as a thing-thing is wrong; far better to assume it&#39;s a people-thing.</p>
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<p>&#0160;</p>advertisingbehaviour changeBehavioural EconomicsCopyingFood and DrinkI'll have what she's havingSocial Learningspace betweensuper social apeMark Earls2013-06-24T18:07:12+01:00Suicide as a disease and the space betweenhttp://herd.typepad.com/herd_the_hidden_truth_abo/2013/05/suicide-as-a-disease-and-the-space-between.html
Interesting piece in this week's New Scientist on the attempts by psychiatrists (particularly those with advanced neuromania) to explain suicidal behaviour through primarily biological means (in terms of brain abnormalities, genetics and epigenetics) Shame really that the conversation starts off...<p>Interesting piece in this week&#39;s New Scientist on the <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23566-suicidal-behaviour-is-a-disease-psychiatrists-argue.html?full=true" target="_self">attempts by psychiatrists (particularly those with advanced <em>neuromania</em></a>) to explain suicidal behaviour through primarily biological means (in terms of brain abnormalities, genetics and epigenetics)</p>
<p>Shame really that the conversation starts off from such a poor premise:&#0160;<em> &quot;Until the 1980s, people who committed suicide were considered, by definition, to be depressed&quot;</em> (i.e. to be a function of individual pathology).</p>
<p>As we wrote early on in the history of this blog, the outbreaks of suicide that many populations see are often better explained by <a href="http://herd.typepad.com/herd_the_hidden_truth_abo/2008/01/suicide-is-catc.html" target="_self">social means</a> than as a function of individual agents.<br /><br />In other words, by what happens in the space between us rather than the space between our ears.</p>
<p><br />Just striking how wilful psychiatrists and their like are in ignoring the social perspective. Shame - Durkheim is very beautiful and clearly written. </p>
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</fieldset>behaviour changeBehavioural Economicsinfluenceneuromanianeurononsensespace betweenMark Earls2013-05-24T18:48:33+01:00Teenage pregnancy and the HERDhttp://herd.typepad.com/herd_the_hidden_truth_abo/2013/05/teenage-pregnancy-and-the-herd.html
Interesting piece here about what does and doesn't work to reduce teenage pregnancy in the UK - written from the perspective of the audience (or a recent graduate from teenage). However, one of the things these personal accounts tend to...<p>
<a class="asset-img-link" href="http://herd.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451e1dc69e20191025e91a0970c-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="C_71_article_1096931_image_list_image_list_item_0_image" border="0" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d83451e1dc69e20191025e91a0970c" src="http://herd.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451e1dc69e20191025e91a0970c-800wi" title="C_71_article_1096931_image_list_image_list_item_0_image" /></a></p>
<p><br />Interesting piece <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/may/20/teenage-pregnancies-shaming-contraception-love?INTCMP=SRCH" target="_self">here</a> about what does and doesn&#39;t work to reduce teenage pregnancy in the UK - written from the perspective of the audience (or a recent graduate from teenage). </p>
<p>However, one of the things these personal accounts tend to miss is the higher level social mechanisms.</p>
<p><a href="http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/366/1563/357.full" target="_self">Daniel Nettles of Newcastle University</a> classic work suggests that early onset of reproduction in human populations is something that is the result of the population (not an individual) feeling under critical pressure. His analysis suggests the variation in regional rates across the UK is simply explained by this factor.</p>
<p>A useful reminder: before you rush off trying to get an authentic &quot;user&quot; perspective on a problem to define your solution, don&#39;t forget to look at bigger and broader factors like this. How things are may be a result of &quot;we&quot; forces that &quot;I&quot; can&#39;t begin to see.</p>
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<p>&#0160;</p>behaviour changecommon errorI'll have what she's havinginfluencenetwork theorySocial InfluenceSpreadsuper social apeMark Earls2013-05-21T10:25:55+01:00MMR revisitedhttp://herd.typepad.com/herd_the_hidden_truth_abo/2013/04/mmr-revisited.html
Source: NIH Very bad news today re the re-emergence of previously suppressed serious childhood diseases like measles in the UK - thanks to the middle-class mums who choose to ignore scientific evidence and listen instead to anecdote and speculation. MMR...<p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/apr/03/mmr-jab-measles-cases-easter" target="_self">
<a class="asset-img-link" href="http://herd.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451e1dc69e2017d42852b01970c-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="CommunityImmunityGeneric" border="0" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d83451e1dc69e2017d42852b01970c image-full" src="http://herd.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451e1dc69e2017d42852b01970c-800wi" title="CommunityImmunityGeneric" /></a><br /></a></p>
<p>Source: <a href="http://www.niaid.nih.gov/topics/pages/communityimmunity.aspx" target="_self">NIH</a></p>
<p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2013/apr/03/mmr-jab-measles-cases-easter" target="_self">Very bad news today re the re-emergence of previously suppressed serious childhood diseases like measles in the UK </a>- thanks to the middle-class mums who choose to ignore scientific evidence and listen instead to anecdote and speculation.</p>
<p>MMR is by any measure an extremely safe vaccine, not the toxin blamed by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Wakefield" target="_self">discredited Andrew Wakefiled and the rumour mill</a>. </p>
<p><br /><a href="http://herd.typepad.com/herd_the_hidden_truth_abo/2009/02/careless-talk-costs-lives.html" target="_self">This is a case when we&#39;re all in it together</a> - <a href="http://herd.typepad.com/herd_the_hidden_truth_abo/2008/09/vaccination-and-us.html" target="_self">&quot;herd immunity&quot;</a> </p>
<p>&#0160;</p>HERDMMRScienceMark Earls2013-04-04T11:07:02+01:00How long should a ghostbike be allowed to hang around?http://herd.typepad.com/herd_the_hidden_truth_abo/2013/04/how-long-should-a-ghostbike-be-allowed-to-hang-around.html
We've long collected examples of cellotaphs and ghostbikes - those popular floral tributes to the fallen that populate so many streets here in the UK and in the US. I think they're particularly interesting social and cultural phenomena because they...<p>
<a class="asset-img-link" href="http://herd.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451e1dc69e2017c38520784970b-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="6a00d83451e1dc69e2011571106999970c-800wi" border="0" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d83451e1dc69e2017c38520784970b" src="http://herd.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451e1dc69e2017c38520784970b-800wi" title="6a00d83451e1dc69e2011571106999970c-800wi" /></a></p>
<p>We&#39;ve <a href="http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=pZKjzDw1p6kC&amp;pg=PT21&amp;lpg=PT21&amp;dq=herd+cellotaph&amp;source=bl&amp;ots=Hb-zOOrLVp&amp;sig=5goTaYv3jFhG-75-DTrSTX8PCnU&amp;hl=en&amp;sa=X&amp;ei=znRcUcuYEcnZOsGGgUA&amp;ved=0CFcQ6AEwBQ" target="_self">long collected</a> examples of <a href="http://herd.typepad.com/herd_the_hidden_truth_abo/2012/08/copycats-everywhere.html" target="_self">cellotaphs</a> and <a href="http://herd.typepad.com/herd_the_hidden_truth_abo/2011/11/cellotaph-plus-ghost-bike-.html" target="_self">ghostbikes </a>- those popular floral tributes to the fallen that populate so many streets here in the UK and in the US. <br /><br />I think they&#39;re particularly interesting social and cultural phenomena because they are examples of public-created art and monumental social artefacts (rather than stuff created by and for the great and the good for private consumption). </p>
<p>Today reveals an interesting problem:<a href="http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/family-ordered-to-remove-ghost-bike-memorial-to-singer-killed-by-lorry-8557844.html" target="_self"> how long should a ghostbike be allowed to hang about? </a></p>
<p>Should it be a temporary monument? Should it be a permanent feature? Should they even be regulated? I&#39;ve got my views but <em>what do you think?</em></p>
<p>&#0160;</p>cellotaphCopyingghostbikeHERDPublic artviralMark Earls2013-04-03T19:39:19+01:00I copy, you copy, he/she/it copieshttp://herd.typepad.com/herd_the_hidden_truth_abo/2013/04/i-copy-you-copy-hesheit-copies.html
Source: flickr Nice piece today in the Standard (prompted by the British Council "The English Effect" exhibition) elaborates on one of the questions we explored last summer in the run up to my School of Life Sermon: how English thrives...<p>
<a class="asset-img-link" href="http://herd.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451e1dc69e2017d4280f0f2970c-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Unknown" border="0" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d83451e1dc69e2017d4280f0f2970c" height="479" src="http://herd.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451e1dc69e2017d4280f0f2970c-800wi" title="Unknown" width="482" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: 8pt;">Source: <a href="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3217/3063453222_74589a6db4_o.jpg" target="_self">flickr</a></span></p>
<p><a href="http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3217/3063453222_74589a6db4_o.jpg" target="_self"></a> Nice <a href="http://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/revealed-english-as-a-language-of-foreign-imports-8557954.html?origin=internalSearch" target="_self">piece today in the Standard</a> (prompted by the British Council <a href="http://www.britishcouncil.org/english/english-effect-exhibition-london" target="_self">&quot;The English Effect&quot; exhibition</a>) elaborates on one of the questions we explored last summer in the run up to my <a href="http://vimeo.com/49423677" target="_self">School of Life Sermon</a>: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10151181086502082&amp;set=a.411265442081.197706.27467247081&amp;type=3&amp;theater" target="_self">how English thrives through copying words from other tongues</a></p>
<p>Normally most of us would imagine there&#39;s some unique quality (its flexible grammar, maybe) that enables something to spread but maybe in this case is more it&#39;s ability to copy copy copy that works.</p>
<p>&#0160;</p>CopyingHERDSocial LearningThe School of LifeMark Earls2013-04-03T19:17:00+01:00Paleonostalgiahttp://herd.typepad.com/herd_the_hidden_truth_abo/2013/03/paleonostalgia.html
Really nice interview in New Scientist last week with evolutionary biologist Marlene Zuk about she calls "paleonostalgia" "You see this attitude in what can be referred to as "palaeo-nostalgia" – the notion that we were all better off before agriculture,...<p>Really nice interview in New Scientist last week with evolutionary biologist Marlene Zuk about she calls <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21729090.400-should-we-aim-to-live-like-cavemen.html?full=true" target="_self">&quot;paleonostalgia&quot;</a></p>
<p><em>&quot;You see this attitude in what can be
referred to as &quot;palaeo-nostalgia&quot; – the notion that we were all better
off before agriculture, or civilisation or the industrial revolution.
It&#39;s not to say life has been unmitigatedly getting better. But it&#39;s
more helpful and accurate to see that all organisms are constantly
evolving. There has been no point in our past when we were perfectly
adapted to our environment.</em></p>
<p><em>I&#39;m not dismissing the idea that you
need to look at our evolutionary heritage to think about what&#39;s best for
us health-wise. But when you start plucking out pieces in an oddly
specific way, you can run into trouble.&quot;</em></p>
<p>Smart stuff and worth remembering: it&#39;s all too easy to conjure up some time in the reimagined past - on some open grassy savannah when things were ticketyboo and we were perfectly suited to the world in which we live (since when, we&#39;ve lost something). Things were always in motion. </p>
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<p>&#0160;</p>evolutionScienceMark Earls2013-03-29T13:49:42+00:00All ears? Outsourcing the cognitive loadhttp://herd.typepad.com/herd_the_hidden_truth_abo/2013/03/all-ears-outsourcing-the-cognitive-load.html
Source: sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com One of the brilliant things about our super social species is our ability not just to learn from other people but to outsource the cognitive load to those around us (and those around them and out on beyond)....<p>
<a class="asset-img-link" href="http://herd.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451e1dc69e2017d42544dac970c-pi" style="display: inline;"><img alt="Borg2" border="0" class="asset asset-image at-xid-6a00d83451e1dc69e2017d42544dac970c image-full" src="http://herd.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451e1dc69e2017d42544dac970c-800wi" title="Borg2" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: 8pt;">Source: sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com</span></p>
<p>One of the brilliant things about our <a href="http://herd.typepad.com/herd_the_hidden_truth_abo/super-social-ape/" target="_self">super social species</a> is our ability not just to<a href="http://herd.typepad.com/herd_the_hidden_truth_abo/copying/" target="_self"> learn from other people </a>but to outsource the cognitive load to those around us (and those around them and out on beyond). We use the brains, the memories, the feelings, the perceptions and the know-how of others all fo the time. </p>
<p><br />Great talk yesterday at top C<a href="http://www.slideshare.net/CreativeSocial/cs-sessions-the-probes-26th-march" target="_self">reative Social Sessions</a> by <a href="%20psychologie.uzh.ch/fachrichtungen… " target="_self">Bertolt Meyer</a> about how technology is increasingly enhancing our human nature and some of the dilemmas this introduces...</p>
<p>Here&#39;s a <a href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21729105.500-crowdsensing-apps-tap-every-strangers-eyes-and-ears.html" target="_self">great little example</a> of how technology is helping enhance and stretch our natural abilities. <em>Is this a social-media enabled prosthetic?</em></p>
<p>&#0160;</p>CopyingCreative SocialI'll have what she's havinginfluenceMark Earls2013-03-27T15:52:54+00:00